Quiet yet nice . . .

The tomato photo is lousy and it really is much bigger than it looks. I'm too lazy to go try for another one.

Visited with younger sister Monday. Had a quiet and restful lunch and then off to the farm for hot fudge sundaes. Spent time today with an old friend visiting from Costa Rica. We had a delicious lunch at Richoni's before heading back to Canterbury where she had left her car. She has a home in Willimantic which she will be putting on the market before she returns to Costa Rica. I agreed with her that it would be a real hassle to rent her US property when she now lives below the southern border. Too bad the market is so lousy. But if it is priced properly it just may sell quickly. Puppy's Pop is off playing horseshoes and I've just weeded the garden and picked some cukes and squash. I took a picture of a monster tomato but I haven't checked to see if it came out well enough to post! Cousin S the younger gave me four tomato plants when we returned from Louisiana in May. The tomatoes are very tasty and some of them are down right huge.

Expect the stump grinder to be here tomorrow afternoon if the weather is good. We're waiting for hearty storms to show up later this evening. Will pick up our Kiddo tomorrow for his frication. If the young man does come to take out the stumps Kiddo may get a kick out of it.

Quote: The strength of a nation, especially of a republican nation, is in the intelligent and well-ordered homes of the people. ___Mrs. Sigourney (If she is correct we are in serious trouble.)

And the cup over floweth . .

Very interesting days. Thunder storms cleaned up the heavy, humid air and we are living in a bit of paradise. Drove to Bolton Lake Thursday to visit older brother, his wife, their oldest son and had a treat. Jack and his wife also came for a visit. Went to UCONN with Jack so it was nice to meet his German wife and get caught up on the almost 50 years that have passed. What an incredible number is 50. Impossible to sense that those years have already passed by. It was really just yesterday. But life has been and is very good for all and sundry. Just have to take each day and run with it. Oh yes, thinking of running, I ran into a State Trooper who thought I was going 16 miles per hour over the posted speed limit on a short section of Route 6. I paid a $92 tax for his leniency. Que sera sera. No need for details. I am a chastened woman and shall do my damnedest to remain so. But it is certainly annoying to follow someone who is doing the speed limit and I'm certain to have teed off many drivers as I try to be a responsible citizen of the great state of Connecticut.

Friday was Kiddo time and rainy, as the weather was starting to clear we spent time NASCAR racing with slot cars and playing Wii sports resort. Finally managed to get outdoors for some badminton and basketball. Grampa brought him home Saturday morning in the Dodge because I had a date with cousin Susan. On their way to Groton they met all sorts of horrible situations. On Starkweather there were three young lady joggers running two abreast and then a singleton who wouldn't get out of the road on a sharp curve when a car came screaming around the curve heading toward Moosup. Grampa said it was a very close call. Anyone who jogs on Starkweather is nuts but two abreast and unwilling to move over is suicide. Then in Norwich he and Kiddo saw the results of a fatal crash in the northbound lane of 395 which caused rubber necking in their southbound lanes when some yahoo decided to stop in the left southbound lane, cut across the right lane, run over the curb and grass to jump onto the exit he had missed! Needless to say Grampa did not come all the way back home on 395. There are some very dangerous drivers out there and believe it or not I'm not one of them. Defensive driving is the only way to drive and you can still get caught up in a mess. We may be forced to drive Route 12 shortly because 395 is going to be torn apart in time for elections! Probably a good idea anyhoo.

The best show I've seen in my short existence is the Pirates of Penzance. Susan and I went to the matinee yesterday. The great comedic story, the wonderful music, the outstanding voices, actors, musicians and production staff at the Connecticut Rep at the Jorgensen little theatre were superb. I am always impressed with live entertainment even if a show isn't great. So this one just bowled me over with its zest for life. We couldn't clap them into an encore. I hated to leave the theatre but we finally exited and went for supper at Sara's Pockets a small restaurant on North Eagleville Road (five tables and you have to climb two flights of stairs to get there!) The food was so delicious and Susan who knows Lebanese food very well gave it two thumbs up. I'll have to see if Puppy's Pop will take a ride to the Storrs Campus for lunch or supper one of these fine days. On top of all of that fun we had time to drive around campus and find all of the sports complexes. Wow, what a monster rich campus!

Quote: Clouds - That looked as though an angel, in his upward flight, had left his mantle floating in mid-air.__Joanna Baillie

Hotter than Hades but . . .

Had a very pleasant drive to Preston so kid brother could help me get some grape leaves for my card playing cousin who makes the best stuffed grape leaves this side of heaven. Since her Mom and Dad are already up there visiting with their confrères I can't tell if Mon Oncle's are better. But he did one heck of a job teaching his daughter how to cook Lebanese food. On the winding, hilly back roads between here and there I had to stop to let a beautiful doe and her fawn cross the road. A little further on I had to stop to allow two pea hens cross the road into the most beautiful roadside flower garden yet. The best was driving up kid brother and his wife's driveway. The magnificent flower display would make Ma and Pa so proud. I didn't have my camera for any candid shots but believe you me, it was grand! See, I even sound like my Ma.

Kiddo went to the Science Museum in Hartford yesterday and was so impressed with the dinosaurs that growled and moved. We read some more from his dinosaur encyclopedia, not too much, mind you! Then it was a basketball practice session with music on the iPad. I sat and was a very good audience. Decided to sit and watch because I had fallen in the house trying to get back to my routine exercises yesterday afternoon when I tripped up on the carpet and went sprawling backwards into my old rocker. Ouch. But it seems that I scared myself more than hurt myself. Feeling damn good today but Grampa has given me a few words of advice and I shall heed them, at least for a few days. I'm hoping the clumsy fall has acted as a chiropractor and put my spine in order! Hope to see older brother and his wife at their cottage tomorrow. Looking forward to that visit. I shall even bring my bathing suit!

Quote: The art of pleasing consists in being pleased. To be amiable is to be satisfied with one's self and others. ___Hazlitt

Not as costly . . .

Poor Élantra. Parking in Dunn's Lot at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway was very messy.

Had a good but hot weekend in New Hampshire for the Sprint Cup Race. It was the most boring race we've been to yet but it's still fun to sit high up in the stands and watch the drivers bull their cars around the short track. The pit stops are also neat. Amazing how fast you can get tires changed, gassed up, body tweaked and away you go. It was a less costly stay than usual because Puppy's Pop was not happy with the haddock that he ordered last night at our favorite restaurant. He had eaten most of it when the server asked how he liked his dinner. He explained that the fish had been over cooked. She went to get Florence, the owner, but Flo was busy with a brand spanking new bartender (my Margarita was just okay) and so they took the $19 dinner off of our bill. That doesn't happen often. Most places will offer you a free desert or a coupon. When we returned to our room at the Courtyard Marriott no one had been in to even change the towels! So we were comped with two $12 buffets for breakfast and 5,000 points on our Marriott card. In addition we didn't leave the maid the usual $5 a night for cleaning the room. So we saved about $50. Woot! The house stayed fairly cool while we were gone. The only adversity we suffered at home was the deer raided the Swiss Chard again and really cropped the plants so there are only nubs. I think I shall lose this battle and never even get a bite of chard this summer. Bummer.

Quote: A man's nature runs either to herbs or weeds; therefore let him seasonably water the one and destroy the other. __Bacon

Petit à petit . . .

Starting to get back in sync. Forcing myself to slow down. Almost feels like sleep walking but that's okay. So far so good. Reminds me of my Petit Prince. I shall use a very poor translation for the quote from St. Exupery. All translations are poor mais que faire? "Good morning, " said the little prince. "Good morning," said the merchant. This was a merchant who sold pills that had been invented to quench thirst. You need only swallow one pill a week, and you would feel no need to drink. "Why are you selling those?" asked the little prince. "Because they save a tremendous amount of time," said the merchant. "Computations have been made by experts. With these pills, you save fifty-three minutes in every week." " And what would you do with those fifty-three minutes?" "Anything you like . . ." "For me," said the little prince to himself, "if I had fifty-three minutes to spend as I liked, I should walk at my leisure toward a spring of fresh water. " That must be why I enjoy watering all of my garage flowers and potted plants every morning coming into the house to fill my quart container as many times as necessary. Somehow it is comforting and rewarding. Just the motions make the routine special. There I go again, getting maudlin! Starting to feel like 60. Yuck!

Had a blast last night. While Puppy's Pop was off playing horseshoes in Coventry I decided to try my hand at the R/C Simulator. After many, many and beaucoup crashes I finally managed to take off and land twice, not on the runway, mind you, but I did land and the plane wasn't in smithereens. Cool beansies. I may have to do that again. "Beansies" reminds me that youngest is 34 years old today. Wow, time is flying by.

Quote: Mercy among the virtues is like the moon among the stars, -not so sparkling and vivid as many, but dispensing a calm radiance that hallows the whole. It is the bow that rests upon the bosom of the cloud when the storm is past. It is the light that hovers above the judgment-seat. ___E.H. Chapin

Homely . . . in its archaic usage. . .

This morning All Hallows was homely and beautiful. It is comforting to see a goodly number of little ones, ancient ones and all in between come together as one family to appreciate our need to refresh our minds in peaceful prayer and song. Don't mean to sound maudlin and trite but it makes me feel good to spend time relaxing and thanking God, even should He be the Higgs bosun, for this mighty world.

The Kiddo and I went to see the fireworks and they were glorious. We had his Dad's former garage property all to ourselves. It was quite special to have the stupendous view without any noisy blasting radios just the cacophony of explosions and sparkling colors in the dark sky. The city turned down, and in some cases turned off the street lights so the show was better than ever. We wished it would last longer than 20 minutes but we enjoyed ourselves. I left for home at 10:45 and the only traffic I encountered was on Route 32 in front of the Coast Guard Academy and it was always moving along.


I'll have to blame my goofy mistake while making oatmeal for lunch on the latest round of medicines! I doctor the oatmeal with brown sugar, pecans, raisins and cinnamon. I reached in the spice cabinet and grabbed the cinnamon, sprinkled it on and noticed it was coarser and a bit red. Yep, oatmeal isn't too bad with paprika. Seriously, it was more than edible. Of course I do put in lots of tasty, chunky stuff. Received a $4 check from Budweiser. I forgot that I had filled out some paperwork from a case of Bud Light a few weeks ago. Kinda cute. Time to see if I can talk Puppy's Pop into an ice cream Sunday treat.

Quote: It will be very generally found that those who sneer habitually at human nature, and affect to despise it, are among its worst and least pleasant samples. ___Dickens

Never expected to that again . . .

True . . . I never expected to go swimming in Moosup Pond again but I did! Kiddo and I got back from Groton in the early afternoon yesterday and after playing Bongo Ball, he won 2 out of 3, we decided to test the waters. It was hot and definitely summery. There were quite a few families but we found a place to park in the shade and a spot on the beach and dove right in. He loved it! He's only been in pools or at the ocean so this was new. We stayed about an hour and a half. I finally got out and watched him sidle his way into a ball game in the water! "Good times!" as Kiddo says when he quotes his big brother. After supper Grampa brought us to Brooklyn International where Kiddo flew his plane and had a chance to watch Steve fly his good sized helicopter in some amazing twists, falls, loops and upside downs. We were all fascinated but to top it off Steve went with Kiddo to marvel at the plane Grampa had made for him and they watched together as Grampa showed what you can do with control line aircraft. Fantastic manoeuvres: over head eights, side eights, upside down, inside loops, outside loops, square eights, triangles and more. We had two impressive shows. Kiddo found out that many RC Flyers practice on simulators so I guess we'll have to see what's available! When we got home, after an ice cream stop at RaRa's, the kid decided he should practice flying the big planes on the simulator upstairs! So heat, fans and all he spent some time flying, landing in the woods and crashing. But, it was fun.

I'll go to the fireworks tonight with him so it'll be a late one.

Quote: Tenderness is the repose of love. ___Rivarol

This is interesting . . .

Pick up sticks . . .

Yep, Grampa needed some airplane parts, trailer parts and bird seed so we went to Sturbridge on our quest. I always roam around Hog Heaven while Grampa looks for whatever little odds and ends he needs to keep the fleet in tact. I found some real, honest to goodness wooden pick up sticks! I've seen the plastic ones and they are crapola. These are perfect. Can't wait to see how Kiddo reacts to getting beat! He and I went to play miniature golf last evening in Groton. We were on the 16th hole and his ball rolled out of play. He bent down to pick it up and was stung three times by wasps - twice behind the ear and once on his wrist. I couldn't believe my eyes. I couldn't react fast enough to stop the attack. He was brave as hell and insisted on finishing the last two holes before we went inside to get ice. They gave me two bottles of cold water! He was a hurting unit and did swell up some so before going to McD's we went back to Richoni's where Dad cleaned him up and Mom gave him some Benadryl. His only comment was, "I was brave, wasn't I, Mémé. Now I know what a bee sting feels like. It hurts like a big shot." Gotta love that kid. He was out shooting baskets with big brother until dark, welts, swelling and all.

Had a short but nice visit with Arizona nephew and his wife at the old Bonnin homestead. They were getting ready for their Fourth of July Party and I had to be off to Groton so I went early to say hello. They both look and sound great. It was good to see the two little kids and the rest of the family too. I don't see them often anymore. Everyone is so busy working, schooling and living. Only got to see a few fireworks when I drove home along 395N. Will get to see the New London show Saturday night, I hope. I still love fireworks.

Quote: Our country, however bounded or described - still our country, to be cherished in all our hearts - defended by all our hands. __R.C. Winthrop

Quite interesting . . .

Met one of Puppy's Pop's cousins today at Old Tymes. She has been trying to find someone who knows some Rose history. So Puppy's Pop tried to fill her in on the family happenings. We ended up talking for an hour and a half and never even scratched the surface! I foresee meeting her again and Puppy's Pop has volunteered to give her a tour of Rose homesteads. She also showed an interest in RC model planes! That was surprising. She actually flies on the green across from NFA. That's pretty hysterical. I believe it is a small styrofoam model. In any case she will also get the tour of the basement hangar and at least one flying field. She is 45 and is the daughter of a first cousin who lives in South Carolina.

We tried to go to Brooklyn International this evening but thunderstorms made us return with no flying or walking. That's okay by me. Not walking too hot right now. I think that playing cards with our Kiddo Friday, sitting on the floor activated and aggravated left leg. Yowser! Not fun. I do hate not walking hard and missing my exercise routine but I'm going to tough it out for a while and see if it goes away. Here's hoping.

Quote: They are the weakest-minded and the hardest-hearted men that most love change. ___Ruskin